Idol of the week for 1/10 to 1/16 - Jon Peter Lewis

Every week in 2010 I will feature one contestant to highlight their work and why I love them so much. With 9 seasons, I can't feature everyone so don't be upset if I can't feature your favorite Idol!

This week's Idol is...

Jon Peter Lewis!

Jon placed 8th on the 3rd season of American Idol. This 30 year old from Lincoln, Nebraska was best known for his quirky dance moves and for Simon calling him a "pen salesman". In my opinion his best performance on the show was "She Believes In Me"

In 2006 he released an album of original music titled "Stories from Hollywood".

His 2nd album dropped in July of 2008 and was called "Break the Silence"

Jon continues to tour and sing both original music, and covers.

He is also a standout American Idol blogger with his show "American Nobody" which includes interviews and his comedy short "American Idol In Crappy Pictures" in which he recaps American Idol episodes with hand drawn sketches and plays every part in the voiceovers.

Jon shows us what it really mean to be an American Idol. While not taking himself TOO seriously he managed to win over America, release 2 awesome albums on his own without the help of 19 mgmt, AND write, film, and produce his own comedy show.

Follow JPL on twitter @JonPeterLewis!

Idol of the week for 1/3 to 1/9 - Anoop Desai

Every week in 2010 I will feature one contestant to highlight their work and why I love them so much. With 9 seasons, I can't feature everyone so don't be upset if I can't feature your favorite Idol!

This week's Idol is...

ANOOP DESAI!

Anoop Desai placed 6th on the 8th season of American Idol. The 23 year old hailing from Chapel Hill, North Carolina is a graduate of University of North Carolina, and was a lead soloist in the a capella group "The Clef Hangers"

During his time on American Idol, he was eliminated, then bought back as a surprise 13th finalist during the wild card round. His strongest performance (in my opinion) was Always On My Mind.

Even with a seemingly strong fanbase and generally solid performances, he still only manged 6th place. He returned at the end of the Season to sing I'm Yours with Jason Mraz and fellow finalist Alexis Grace.

After the show came to a close, the idols took off on a nationwide tour, where Anoop shined singing "Mad"

After the tour ended, Anoop set off to work on his solo career. He has been singing original songs at his post-idol appearances. One of which is the excellent L.U.V.R.

Look for L.U.V.R. on his new album to be released in April!

I hope you enjoy this new feature, and I look forward to doing more of them. Post your Anoop stories and opinions in the comments here or on Twitter.